The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for all of our area until midnight tonight. It’s going to include a lot of central Kentucky all the way through West Virginia and down to Western North Carolina. Here’s the map:

Storms are starting to fire up in Kentucky, at the far northwestern end of the watch box southwest of Lexington. These storms are going to move southeast toward us later today, and will arrive in our area this evening.

The main threats with the storms today are damaging winds and large hail. The chance of tornadoes is low–hence this being a severe thunderstorm watch–but is not zero.

That said, if you have anything outside that you don’t want hail damaged, move it inside if you can, or at least into a carport if you don’t have a garage or basement. Anything outside should probably be moved in as well just in case. Storms won’t be here for a few hours yet, so you’ve got some time.

I’ll be heading in to the studios this evening to watch the storms move in. Again, this is mainly a thunder and lightning, wind and hail event, and my services might not be needed. That said, stay tuned to my Twitter and this page for the latest throughout the evening.

Should my services be needed on the air, I’ll be mainly on WHCB 91.5 FM. I will also move over to 96.3 The Possum and 97.3 Love FM as well. Make sure you have your wireless alerts on your phone or that the weather radio is in working order so you’ll get instant warnings. Then, take action as needed! Check the safety rules page for more on that as the storms approach.

It’s been a dry day with sunshine today, but clouds and some rain are coming, with a sharp divide between rain and snow through the weekend. Welcome to the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast through Tuesday!

Look for mostly rain in the Tri-Cities as a warm front moves through tonight. A cold front gets through here later, bringing better snow chances for all of us. Here’s the outlook:

We’re going to transition a lot from rain to snow and back again in the coming days, which will limit accumulations for the most part. But due to more snow being likely in Southwest Virginia, everyone there is under a Winter Weather Advisory from the National Weather Service from tonight at 7 to tomorrow morning at 7.

Here in the Tri-Cities, we’ll get rain to start, while the mountains will get snow for most of this run. A warm front moves through Saturday, which will change snow to rain for all of us. Saturday night will provide a little break for everyone before the cold front begins to push rain back in on Sunday.

Some of that rain could be quite heavy, so those of us who are not fond of snow will be happy we’ll have temperatures close to 50 by the end of Sunday afternoon. Folks in the mountains may see snow again during the day, with snow continuing off and on Sunday night.

By Monday, the cold front will get through here, and when it does we’ll see any rain that’s left over change to snow. But most of the moisture should be gone, at least for the Tri-Cities, before the cold arrives. So we’re looking at maybe an inch or two of snow through Tuesday, while folks in Southwest Virginia along I-81 north of Abingdon could see 3 to 4 inches of snow by the time it’s all said and done.

I noticed yesterday that there was a big divide between snow amounts on all the computer models, and today it’s similar, but much less of a divide. I don’t think any of this will be a crippling snow for our area, but there’s a possibility of a good amount of snow the farther east you go in Southwest Virginia by the time it’s all said and done.

I’ll be watching all of this unfold this weekend, and I’ll have updates on Twitter and here as needed. There will be one more forecast update on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

It was a cloudy, misty, dreary day for a while, but the sun came out this afternoon! The gap between cold fronts is giving us a bit of a break between rounds of precipitation, and thanks to there being two cold fronts moving through by morning, we might see a little snow by the time we wake up tomorrow. Welcome to the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast for tonight through the weekend!

One front is almost through here, but another one remains. It will bring cold enough air to get snow showers for a while in the mountains, and changes from rain to snow and back again in the Tri-Cities. Here’s the outlook to spell it all out for you!

Thursday-Morning flurries, then skies become partly cloudy late. High 38.

Friday-Partly cloudy. High 48.

Saturday-Early snow showers become rain showers. High 55.

Sunday-Rain showers likely, high 54.

Due to all these changes, the amount of snow we see won’t be all that much here in the Tri-Cities. I think maybe a dusting might be it until you get into the higher elevations, where an inch or two of snow is possible through Thursday. I’m not sure if any of this will cancel any school except for in the mountains.

Thursday will start to clear out, but it’ll be a cold and windy day in the process. We bounce back with a dry and warmer day on Friday before rain begins on Saturday and hangs around on Sunday. That could start as snow showers early Saturday morning.

I’ll have more updates on the weekend’s weather as I can through the rest of the week, including hopefully a new forecast tomorrow afternoon. Until then, have a great Wednesday!

It’s been dry since Friday! It’s always good to get a weekend without rain, and we did get that, as expected. We are going to see rain moving in tonight, and some of it might change over to snow tomorrow night in spots through Thursday morning. Welcome to the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast through Friday!

The good news is, it’s been so warm recently that the ground is also warm. So it’ll take a bit of snow to get accumulations of any kind, and I’m not sure we’ll get all that much. We could see rain mixing with snow at times, which should also keep accumulations down. Here’s the outlook:

This appears right now to be an event where we see a good amount of breaks in the precipitation. Most of it in the Tri-Cities will be in the form of rain, with some snow toward the end of this late Wednesday into Thursday. Snow showers are more likely, with accumulations more likely, in the mountains of North Carolina and Southwest Virginia.

How much? Well, I’m glad you asked. I’m thinking if the Tri-Cities gets a dusting that will be about the most of it from a snow standpoint. Higher elevations might get an inch or two, and that appears to be largely dependent on how close to West Virginia you are.

In fact, I’m tempted to leave most of western North Carolina in the same boat with the Tri-Cities in seeing very little snow accumulation. The best chances of an inch or two are likely to be in Buchanan and Tazewell Counties in southwest Virginia. That’s right up there next to Kentucky and West Virginia.

I’ll keep a close eye on it, and make adjustments. Even as I was recording today, I thought that high Wednesday might be a bit ambitious. So it’s a good chance I’ll back off on that tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather computers tell me tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile, don’t be too concerned about the cold or snow. It won’t be around for long. Have a great Tuesday!

It is the end of winter! For us meteorologists, Spring starts tomorrow. We’re not out of the woods with cold weather yet, but the worst is over for sure. Welcome to the Tri-Cities Weather Blog forecast for tonight through the weekend!

It’s been quite warm recently, with several days above average in a row here. To be sure, cold snaps will happen between now and April, but it’s likely in my opinion that anything below 20 has probably happened for the year at this point here in the Tri-Cities. As for snow, our total at the airport is 4.7 inches. There’s still time to add to that, though.

We’re not going to add to that tomorrow or into the weekend. There might be some flurries in the mountains behind the cold front Thursday night, but that’s it through Sunday. Here’s the outlook:

Tonight-Cloudy with scattered showers. Low 48.

Thursday-Cloudy with rain showers and gusty winds. High 63.

Thursday night-Cloudy with scattered showers or a few mountain flurries. Low 35.

Friday-Decreasing clouds. High 49.

Saturday-Mostly sunny. High 48.

Sunday-Mostly sunny. High 55.

If the warm front gets through here before it dies out, it will do one or the other tonight. That’s going to keep our low temperature overnight close to the 50 degree mark. We’ll have scattered showers returning, as just after 5 PM there’s a bit of a dry slot here under cloudy skies.

Tomorrow should be a cloudy and windy day, ahead of the cold front we’ll have windy conditions as well. Despite the rain, it’ll be a warm day. Rain comes to an end tomorrow night, and clouds move out on Friday. We could get a total rainfall between an inch and 1.5 inches by the time the rain comes to an end.

Meanwhile on Friday, a nor’easter takes shape for the northeast. They’re looking at a lot of rain to start, followed by a lot of snow. Things should be interesting for folks in Ohio and Pennsylvania and points northeast in the coming days, with low pressure moving up the coast.

Here, the weekend looks fantastic. We’ll be between cold fronts, and it looks right now like we’ll get through the weekend rain free. I’ll have a better idea about that tomorrow afternoon, though, and definitely on Friday. Have a wonderful Thursday!